Most members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints hesitate to talk much about what happens in the Church’s temples. We hold the ordinances and teachings received there as sacred, not something that should be shared publicly. But since human beings need to express their feelings, especially the deep feelings elicited by things like spiritual experiences, the sacred is still expressed. As a result, LDS poets have included the temple in their poetry almost since the beginning of the Church, even though they have respected the boundaries about what to share with those who haven’t been in a temple. Their poetry has also changed significantly over time, as the position of the temple in LDS worship and their understanding of its role has changed.
Otherwise mundane space becomes sacred when changed, by an event or events, or by the construction of the space into something sacred. A space like the sacred grove, where Joseph Smith had his first vision, was transformed by that event into a sacred space. Much later, when the Church purchased the space, it was again transformed, and the sacredness of the grove was emphasized by its formal dedication and by the way it has continued to be constructed to host visitors. Temples differ from locations like the sacred grove as they become sacred through designation, construction, and the efforts of Church members invested in the site, rather than because an event happened there. For most temples, we don’t have any visitation or sacred event to make the site holy; instead the site is dedicated by the priesthood, and made sacred by the hopes of members, the sacrifices made to ensure its construction, and by the subsequent performance of the sacred at that place. The members’ faith and prayers, performance of rituals, visits to the sacred place and belief in its holiness makes a temple a sacred space as much as any dedication.
Along with these actions, each temple’s outward appearance contributes to the message that this is a sacred space. While labels like the words “Holiness to the Lord” and images like beehives and sunstones contribute to the message, so do elements like spires, the building’s color and the surrounding landscaping. These all suggest a place of peace, reflection, and refuge as well as the impression that the building connects to something higher.
Just as the temple itself communicates through its architecture and surroundings, LDS poets also communicate their aspirations and experiences with the temple. Initially, what they wrote focused on the idea of what a temple would be, and their efforts to construct a temple. In this way, the earliest poetry almost filled a promotional role—in which Church members were encouraged to help build the temple and donate to the temple, in order to fulfill prophesy and gain the promised blessings that a temple would bring. In these early poems, the temple was as much evidence that God was working in their lives as it was a source of spiritual insight. As a result, LDS poetry about temples was often occasional poetry, that is, poetry written to commemorate an occasion or event.
The earliest LDS poems were written as hymns, part of Emma Smith’s effort to produce the Church’s first hymnal, which was published in 1836, at about the same time that the Kirtland Temple was dedicated. However, other than a few mentions in passing, the earliest LDS poems didn’t focus on the temple until after the groundbreaking of the Nauvoo Temple in early 1841. In part, this delay may have been because LDS writers hesitated to write about things that might conflict with scripture—in fact, it wasn’t until just before the dedication of the Kirtland Temple that Church members began to independently publish their creative works, beginning with the first edition of Parley P. Pratt’s The Millennium (1835).
LDS poetry about the temple first appeared in 1841, with Eliza R. Snow’s poem The Temple of God. Written in August, a few months after the laying of the Nauvoo Temple’s cornerstones and the beginning of its construction, the poem is like an announcement of the Temple, a symbolic goal that members should look forward to. The poem ends with a call for members to sacrifice for the temple, contributing funds or providing physical effort toward its construction. The first stanza also provides a purpose for the building:
Lo, the Savior is coming, the prophets declare—
The times are fulfilling; O Zion, prepare!
The Savior is coming: but where shall he come?
Will he find the palace of princes, a home?
No! O no, in his temple he’ll surely attend;
But O where is the “temple,” where Christ shall descend?
The temple as symbolic future objective and something Church members should sacrifice for were the apparent motivation for temple poetry during the rest of the 19th century. These poetic works were mostly written for occasions like the laying of cornerstones, the installation of a capstone, or a temple’s dedication. W. W. Phelps’s poems on the Nauvoo Temple, “The Temple of God at Nauvoo” (1842), “The Cap Stone” (1844), and Dedication Hymn” (1846), constitute a kind of trifecta covering these principal occasions associated with building the temple. As a group, such poems are similar enough to each other to form a genre.
By the Nauvoo Temple’s dedication, the Saints were already heading west and would soon focus on a different temple. While Brigham Young announced the Salt Lake Temple shortly after arriving in the valley, it was not until 1852, with the approaching groundbreaking and more stability for the Church, that Zion’s poets began to talk about the new temple. Eliza R. Snow again led the way, with her work “To the Saints in Europe” (1852), calling on members there to gather to Zion because that was where the temple would be built. And the Saints—that is, the poets—in Europe responded, with M. A. Morton (“The Temple,” 1852), John Jaques (“Song of Zion”, 1852), William G. Mills (“Hark, a Sound from the Mountains,” 1852), and John Lyon (“Chant,” 1852) all echoing Snow’s call, urging members to labor and contribute to the future temple, even though none of these poets had yet begun their journey to Utah.
Since the temple had not yet been constructed, poets were left with few concrete ideas to present in their poems, beyond urging members to gather to the temple and contribute to its construction. Beyond these messages, this earliest temple poetry also proclaimed that the temple would provide blessings and ordinances, reveal hidden mysteries and provide welding-links to those who had already passed on. They also looked at the position of the temple in the Bible, claiming that having a temple provided evidence that the LDS Church was the church established by God.
The groundbreaking and laying of the cornerstones for the Salt Lake Temple the following year led to more occasional poetry, including four poems published in a brochure distributed at the ceremony. In addition to commemorating the event, these poems emphasized the nature of the building, as a “court of salvation,” “portal for angels,” (both in “Temple” by Eliza R. Snow) and place to find the presence of God.
As the construction waned, especially during the Utah War, fewer poems spoke of the temple. However, there were notable exceptions. English poet Henry Greensides, who didn’t immigrate to Utah until the late 1870s, saw the temple as a sanctuary or retreat, a place where hell has no power. The first stanza of his poem “The Saints’ Retreat” (1856) proclaims:
From envy, scorn, and ill that flows
On human kind through broken vows,
There is a peaceful, safe retreat,
Where faithful Saints together meet.
A Temple, where God’s Priesthood sheds
Abundant glory on their heads;
A scene that’s render’d dear and sweet,
To weary, way-worn pilgrims’ feet.
Another poet that wrote about temples during this time was Jabez Woodward, one of the earliest missionaries to Germany. Woodward sent his “Temple Psalm” to the Millennial Star from Germany in 1857, praising the remoteness of the temple and the happiness it will provide to those who work on it:
What is like unto thee, O thou Temple of the living God?
All nations shall hear of thy greatness; and from all lands the chosen seed will come to worship in thy courts.
We will wash in thy pure waters, and drink from the cup that is blessed by the Holy Priesthood.
Thou art far from the nations of the earth, that thou should’st not be breathed upon by the breath of their defilement, nor be stained by the mire of their crimes.
Happy are they that build thy walls, and that guard thy sacred gates. Their children shall inherit their glory, and they shall be allowed to pass by the sentries, and to partake of the enjoyment in the celestial world.
Woodward apparently liked the psalm form, since he published a German-language psalm, “Ein Psalm auf Zion,” at about the same time.
Another unusual temple poem was published in England the following year, although apparently written years earlier. William Fertel remembered the destruction of the Nauvoo Temple by fire in 1848 and tornado in 1850, but his poem was misplaced in the Millennial Star’s office and was only published in 1859. Fertel saw the destruction as an act of God to prevent the building’s sacrilege:
Shall impious men pollute those sacred walls,
Where once was heard the voice of praise and prayer?
Shall Gentiles revel in those hallowed halls—
The ungodly hold their vain assemblies there?
In the end, Fertel claims, the temple will be rebuilt and rededicated to God:
Temple of beauty! though thy day is gone—
Though thou art now in dust and ruins laid,
Soon shall the day of Zion’s triumph dawn,
When thou shalt rise in fairer garb arrayed.
With the construction of temples in St. George, Logan, and Manti, Utah over the next few years, a new round of poems began, commemorating cornerstones and dedications, once again led by Eliza R. Snow (“Temple Song,” 1877). The counterpoint to Snow in this case was hymnwriter George Manwaring, who wrote a hymn for the dedication of the St. George Temple (“A Temple Hymn,” 1877) and later a song (“We Want to See the Temple,” 1881). Manwaring describes the temple as the literal dwelling place of God and describes the temple spires as “…majestic pointing / Unto the clear blue sky.”
With the changes of the 1880s and 1890s, including the LDS literary renaissance known as the Home Literature movement, the nature of LDS poetry about the temple began to change. While new temples still led to occasional poetry commemorating things like groundbreakings and dedications, LDS poetry also became more personal and focused on the poet’s feelings, following the growing emphasis on lyric poetry in the western world. Again, Eliza R. Snow was at the forefront of this trend with her poem “Answered—To Emily Scott from E. R. Snow” (1883), in which she responds in poetry to a letter from Emily Scott about the death of her child and portrays the temple as a place for connecting families together. The poem draws on two separate motivations in Snow’s poetry — her poetry consoling friends who are grieving and her poetry extolling the virtues of the temple. In the poem, Snow entwines these motivations, connecting Scott’s feelings over the loss of her child to the ties forged in the Temple. She urges Scott to
…leave that grave: angels will guard its sleep
While you secure the right that babe to keep:
Prepare ’neath holy Temple roofs to tread,
And labor for the living, and the dead.
Sometimes the personal is not about feelings, but rather an event. S. Stock’s poem, “To Little Templeton Bennett” (1893) recognizes one of the more unusual events in a temple: the unexpected birth of Joseph Temple Bennett inside the newly dedicated Salt Lake Temple. Stock saw the place of birth as portentous:
Lo in the Temple, Holy shrine
Was born an infant boy, divine
His sacred place of birth
Might well be envied by the nobles of the earth.
Who with all their titles, wealth and splendor rare
Can not boast of a jewel that can with this baby boy compare
Born in a Temple, heir to the Priesthood,
Parentage, honorable, true and good.
Bennett lived most of his life in Salt Lake City and died in 1966.
Occasional poems commemorating new temple announcements, groundbreakings, and dedications have continued since the 1890s. For example, Frank Steele composed on the dedication of the Alberta Temple (“Two Pictures,” 1913), Ruth M. Fox on the Hawaii Temple (“A Temple in Hawaii,” 1915), Anton Sorensen on the Idaho Falls Temple (“Anthem Temple Idaho,” 1942) and Gladys Quayle on the London Temple (“A Visit to the Temple Site,” 1954), and likely many more not yet discovered. Along with these poems, the tendency to lyrical reactions to the temple gained strength in the 20th century. Given the taboo on any specifics of what happens in the temple, poets often used exterior imagery. For example, Mormona focused on the reflecting pool in front of many temples in her poem “Reflections” (1930):
O, placid little pool, reflecting here
The summer sky, the flowers and shrubs so green,
While deep within their bosom shining clear
An image of the Temple fair is seen.
I would that in my secret hidden heart
A pool of such clear radiance might lie,
Reflecting back again some little part—
As you reflect again the summer sky—
Some little part of all the truths I hear,
Some portion of the beauty I have seen,
A little pool of memory so clear
In which to hold a lovely thought serene,
Of verdant life, and aspiration high,
Of truth and duty and the saving word,
Like these green shrubs and this reflected sky
And like this gleaming Temple of the Lord.
Poet Rachel G. Taylor saw the building itself as a symbol, a sanctuary not unlike the view of Henry Greensides of some 80 years before. Taylor compared the temple to other sanctuaries with similar architecture:
Beneath high, massive, vaulted domes
Where men in somber robes move slowly by
And glistening tapers, starlike, shine
In shadows dimmed by opal glass,
With organ’s deep accompaniment
Thy children kneel
And whisper prayers to Thee.
But she saw LDS temples as set apart, “untouched by art of Man”:
Oh, that such might go
Far up on mountain heights
Where stands a temple of Thy handiwork
Untouched by art of man….
As they would enter in with reverent step,
From their shoulders there would fall
The worn-out cloak of creed;
From their hearts there would be lifted
The heavy burden of disturbing doubt;
For there, where breezes like faint organs roll
Within the peaceful confines of Thy beauteous solitude,
Comes faith and benediction to the soul.
Beyond reacting to this external imagery, other poets expressed personal feelings about their experiences inside the temple, such as John M. Freckleton’s poem “The Temple” (1943):
Where we were sealed
For our eternity
Is God’s workshop
For happiness.
The weight of worry
I had carried
Is removed,
Since never may our lives
Be parted,
Come what may.
Of all the dark nights,
I’ve no fear,
For dawn destroys the dark,
And you will rise with me
When death is gone.
This overview of LDS poetry about the temple is necessarily incomplete. Discovering what has been written is difficult and time-consuming, so this article misses much of what has been written. It also excludes much of what is readily available, such as the many hymns and songs in the current hymnals, including “How Beautiful Thy Temples, Lord” (hymn 288), “Holy Temples on Mount Zion” (289), and “I Love to See the Temple” (Children’s Songbook 95). Beyond these hymns and songs, more work needs to be done to identify and understand all of the poetry written about this foundational part of LDS practice and culture.
However, the poetry examined here tells us a lot about how we, the LDS people have reacted to the temple, and how our use of poetry has changed over time, We have moved from an idealized, aspirational view of what future temples will mean for us, to celebration of temple dedications, and then to personal reflections on what the temple means in our lives. These changes reflect how we understand poetry and the outside cultural norms of poetry, as well as how Saints understand the temple. In addition, unconsciously or not, we have used poetry to reinforce the creation of the temple as a sacred space, first using occasional poetry to commemorate the announcement, construction, and dedication of temples, and later using lyrical poetry to explore how the temple makes us feel.
No doubt our understanding of both poetry and the temple will change further in the future. LDS poets will continue to write occasional poetry commemorating new temples as temples are such an important part of their lives. In addition, Church members will want to write poetry about their experiences in the temple. Deep feelings about central parts of our lives naturally lead to creative efforts, regardless of the author’s technical skill. In the future, new ways of talking about temples in poetry will likely arise, although it is impossible to know what those would be. Regardless of what those approaches to poetry will be, the attempts of Church members to become creative, like our Heavenly Parents, will always lead to new ways of representing the spiritual in our lives.
Kent Larsen collects
old Mormon literature
and prepares it
to be read again.
